AMD expects return to profitability by year's end

Months before the recession reared its ugly head, AMD was struggling and putting in place unpopular measures to reduce costs and streamline its operations. Now, it seems the company had a head start on the rest of the industry which is still trying to cope with the downturn.

Speaking at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York, CEO Dirk Meyer said AMD's main division would end 2009 profitable if demand in Q3 and Q4 picks up. His forecast excluded AMD spin-off Globalfoundries, and the consolidated report for both companies will not show a profit.

Meyer also optimistically commented the massive $1.45 billion antitrust fine levied against Intel by the European Commission, saying: "Over time, it's going to allow us to more successfully compete for business."

There were some good news for AMD employees as well, as Meyer said the company was done with restructuring and layoffs. He claims AMD has cut costs to such extent, that it will break even once quarterly revenue reaches $1.3 billion.

Talking about netbooks, Meyer once again said that he expects the distinction between netbooks and notebooks to fade over time, and eventually disappear.

He also had a novel definition of netbooks to offer, saying: "Netbooks have Atom. Notebooks don't."